


Falling with Style

by iam93percentstardust



Series: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Best Friends, Character Study, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Moodboard & a Tiny Fic, The Avengers (2012) Compliant, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27434965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: When Tony was a little boy, his favorite thing to do was go to the airport so he could watch the planes take off.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984891
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	Falling with Style

**Author's Note:**

> Title of Fill: Falling with Style  
> Collaborator: iam93percentstardust  
> Card Number: 4012  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27434965  
> Square Filled: K3 - Flying  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Tony & Rhodey  
> Rating: G  
> Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Avengers (2012) compliant, gen fic  
> Summary: When Tony was a little boy, his favorite thing to do was go to the airport so he could watch the planes take off.  
> Word Count: 839

When Tony was a little boy, his favorite thing to do was go to the airport so he could watch the planes take off. Back then, Jarvis was the one who took him. Howard certainly never would have and Maria could scarcely be bothered to remember that she had a son most days. But Jarvis - despite all of the many things he had to do to keep the mansion running - he always found time to take a young boy to the airport.

"One day," Tony would tell him. "I'm going to fly in one of those."

And Jarvis would always chuckle. "I'm sure you will, Master Anthony."

Tony never quite understood why Jarvis would laugh at that, not until years later, long after Howard had dragged him on his first business trip to meet their investors in Japan, long after Howard and Maria and Jarvis were all gone and Tony was alone, not until Obie looked at him after a month's worth of planes and hotels and business meetings and said, "You've got another plane to catch at first light tomorrow. Try not to miss it this time." That's when he finally understood: the life of a Stark was not one that was tied to the ground. Stark men might be made of iron but so too was stardust and Tony was destined to soar amongst the stars.

* * *

Tony loved flight. He loved the feeling of freedom in the open air, the marvel of engineering that was airplanes, that brief feeling of weightlessness when he pushed his planes past their limits. On top of the military contracts and the crops and everything else that Stark Industries had a hand in, Tony developed planes - experimental, of course. The things he was doing with his planes pushed the limits of modern physics and he would never risk anyone other than himself to fly them.

He thought maybe that was why he got along so well with Rhodey. Rhodey, who knew what it meant to have your eyes turned skyward. Rhodey, who knew why he never let anyone fly his planes and never complained. Rhodey, who flew combat mission after combat mission, always dreading the moment when he had to come back down.

* * *

"Why do you need to fly?" Yinsen asked him once.

"Because I can," Tony said and he thought, when Yinsen gave him a small smile, that maybe he understood.

* * *

The suit wasn't like his planes. It was designed for anyone to be able to fly, whether that was Rhodey or Pepper or even Happy, though he knew that only a few would ever have the strength and mental power to do it. The suit required the wearer to be able to read a thousand things going across the HUD at a time, read _and_ act on it in the blink of an eye. Most people, he knew, would crash before they trained their brain to understood all that input. And _that_ , he knew, was what made him Iron Man, not the money or the ego or anything else Rogers accused him of. He flew the Iron Man suit because he had the raw _will_ to get him off the ground and into the sky where he belonged.

But Rogers had an opinion of him already, just like most people did, and it suited his purposes not to let on that he was anything other than what people saw him as. So when he was asked what he was beneath the suit, he didn't say that he was the man who built the suit or even the one who flew it. He just said flippantly, "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

And when Romanoff tilted her head in agreement, he knew it was the right thing to say.

* * *

Rhodey was the one who found him once it was all over. His wonderful Honeybear, who was still the only person he'd ever met who understood his need for flight.

Flight.

He wasn't so sure he'd ever be able to take to the skies again, not now that he knew what was out there.

"No one's seen Iron Man since the battle," Rhodey said. "People are starting to get worried."

Tony didn't know what to say. He'd never had to admit something was wrong like this before. He hadn't told Rhodey he was dying two years ago and Romanoff had told Pepper for him. And now, when it something as important to him as flying, he didn't know how to admit that he could barely even look at the armor without the walls closing in around him.

"Hey, Tones," Rhodey said softly, nudging Tony's shoulder with his. "You're not alone."

* * *

When Rogers came back to the tower after his trip around the country and offered him a place in the Avengers, Tony looked at the two gleaming suits in their cases, one red and gold, the other a bright silver that reminded him of the stars.

He looked back at Rogers and said, "On one condition: Rhodey comes with me. I don't fly alone."


End file.
